Judgment of Gods
by Fayr Warning
Summary: It was the last betrayal and the one that hurt the most. But history is not set in stone and those that passed judgement can just as easily become the judged.(Set in the final days of the Second War)


**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter, and trust me, I'm making absolutely no money at all from this story

AN: Point of View is Harry Potter

**Judgment of gods**

_Please._

_Please spare them._

His voice was lost in the crowd. Silently he watched the wizards and witches roar their approval, all too reminiscent of a Roman tournament. They called for blood; asked for mortal lives to pay sins committed in another's name.

The shackles on his limbs pulled heavily and the wicked spiked chocker prevented him from looking away. _They _wanted him to see this. _They _wanted him to know the prize paid for daring to stand next to him.

He did not cry. He did not shout. Rather he stared straight into their eyes as one by one the famous Killing Curse took their lives away from them. Allies and friends alike knelt before him in a sick parody of a servant's deference to their master. It was meant to show all those watching that those that would dare follow him would suffer this cruel fate.

One by one those that believed in him were taken from their cage and let to the arena where shackled he stood. They were pushed to their knees before him and he alone saw their executor move behind them. He could do nothing as the green light took their life away. All he could offer was mere words to send them off to the Kingdom of Death.

The next one came.

Enemy, rival, ally, and brother. Pale blood hair and silvery eyes.

"_Draco Malfoy. You have redeemed your name and that of your family. Find peace in death and let no cages of this life bind you."_

And like that he was gone. A small smirk his parting gift to the boy he had shunned his father for. For the salvation his soul had sought.

The next prisoner had begged to die with his brother. Together they had been born and together they would die.

"_Gred Weasley. Forge Weasley. Reclaim the laughter this war took from you and let the ghosts of your family rest as you begin a new adventure."_

Twin grins and twin winks and they too were gone.

Blond hair matted with blood and too big eyes.

"_Luna Lovegood. Find and guard the dreams no one else dares to dream."_

A dreamy smile later and she too was gone.

Fiery hair and proud eyes.

"_Ginny Weasley. Release the doubts Tom gave you and always know you above all were a Child of the Light."_

He lost count of how many were pushed in front of him. He never failed to say parting words to all those who were condemned by their peers.

And with each death the watchers grew more uneasy. It unsettled them to watch prisoners walk forward calmly and proud. They didn't want that. They wanted animals that cursed and fought. Animals that tore at their binds and snarled at their captors. Animals they didn't have to remember as once being friends, brothers, and lovers.

Harry never turned toward the crowd; never once raged against them and some even maliciously thought that his shame cowed him.

Finally it was over.

The last one had been a recent Durmstrang graduate, a mere three years younger than Harry. A boy who had lost all his family in a Death Eater attack.

"_Gregory Shovik. Let vengeance rest and grant you peace from the dark memories that haunt you."_

The end had come and the guards didn't bother to remove the poor boy's body from where he lay sprawled before Harry.

Calmly Harry turned to the crowd of wizards and witches. Again he recalled the events that had let to this moment and he could not fandom as to why they would condemn him. He had only done what they had wanted of him. Calmly he met the eyes of those that dared look upon him. Cornelius Fudge, Marcus Zabini, and Albus Dumbledore. A parody of the Holy Trinity. Together they had crafted the world his death would set into motion.

All that was left was for Harry to die.

Once he had been fool enough to call them allies. Once he had been stupid enough to think them comrades. Oddly enough, Voldemort and his Death Eaters might have been the best thing about this whole war. At least they made no illusions of what they thought of him.

But Voldemort was dead and those Death Eaters that had avoided capture had fled from the Mark and the Masks they wore. Harry had killed the Dark Lord even as those loyal to Harry fought and died besides him. Where had the Ministry and its Aurors been then? Where had Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix been then?

Not there.

It was his friends and allies that had paid the prize to free the Wizarding World from the Dark Lord's reign. But even after sacrificing so much for peace they were denied. This time by the very people they had bleed for.

They said he was the new Dark Lord. They said he wielded power no mortal should have possessed. They whispered about the rituals he must have committed to gain such power. They named his allies his Followers. They named them Servants of the Dark. Those that should have been heroes spent their last moments being spat upon. Those that had hidden away and pretended they alone had seen from the beginning that Harry Potter was no good spent those moments piling imaginary sin upon imaginary sin on those vilified saviors.

Only then did he speak.

"My judges, so you have willed and so has it come to pass."

"Mr. Potter, your death is imminent. The Wizengamot grants you these moments so you may repent and leave this world facing your sins like a man." The speaker was a middle age man who had taken the place of Madam Bones. Madam Bones herself had not been able to stay for the whole of the executions after witnessing the green light take the life of her niece Susan Bones. They consoled her saying the guilty must pay for their crimes and she had reluctantly if tearfully agreed.

"Wizards and witches alike. You gathered today to witness the end of a beginning that never happened. You gathered today to crucify your fear of the reign of another Dark Lord and I personally hope that those murdered today have managed to grant you whatever peace you were looking for because murdered they have become and murderers you have become."

The crowd would have jeered at him then except they found their mouths no longer worked. Neither did their bodies respond to their commands nor did their frantic eye-jesters result in anything but to confirm their utter helplessness.

"To you feel better now? To you feel relief that people have died so you might live a little more easily?" He paused as if honestly expecting a reply.

"You shouldn't." Harry finally said with a cruel smile. "You should dread the events of this day. You should fear having killed those that protected you at the risk of their own lives because no one is left to protect you now. No one is left to oppose your punishment. No one is left to beg for your mercy. For your voices no longer matter and all those that could have saved you have been killed for your amusement."

Comically he raised his hands to his audience so they might see his shackles melt. He stood there as if he was a child offering his accomplishments to his parents. Bruises and broken bones faded from his body and again he stood once more before them whole after their willful destruction of his body and soul.

He glanced at the assembled crowd maliciously. From all over the world they had come so they might claim to witness the destruction of a fledging Dark Lord. The courtrooms had been rejected since they could never accommodate the amount of people that wanted to come. In the end a stadium had to be employed. Vaguely he noted that the crowd was even larger than the one that had formed at the one and only professional Quidditch game he had seen.

"For days you have flocked to witness this day. Those that dared protest the injustice to be committed today rejected coming and for that leniency shall be granted."

They stirred uneasily. With rising horror they began to understand just what kind of position they were in. Thousands of wizards had been immobilized at the whim of one man.

"I killed Voldemort. Did you think you could face me when you could not even say his name? Did you think you could survive crossing me when you trembled before him? He is dead and he was powerful but neither he nor any before him could have ever been my match as you begin to see my foolish wizards."

"You did not learn the lesson I taught the world when I broke the Dark Lord's reign. I am not a kind teacher. You failed and for that you must pay the prize. Since sunrise I have stood before you and allowed you to kill my friends and allies and not once did any here find the will to protest."

"Marcus Zabini." Harry commanded. A second later the struggling man flew and was dumped harshly on the ground before Harry. "Zabini, Head Auror and puppet of Voldemort. You sins cannot be forgotten simply because your Master is dead. Your sabotage cost many their lives and it is only fitting you repay that."

He was too quick for most to see but a second later one glowing hand had clawed at Zabini's heart. The man died in agony as his life-energy was cruelly ripped from his body. Carelessly Harry let the wizard drop to the ground while holding a glowing sphere in his hand that no mortal should have ever been able to extract.

For a second his eyes lost their cruel glint as they glanced down at the last of his allies to die, Gregory Shovik, and almost tenderly he pushed the ball of energy into the boy's chest. With one harsh breath the boy gasped as his heart once more began to beet. Only then did Harry glance back up to his stupefied audience.

"You begin to see? You willingly let innocents die in place of another man's army. An army that has scattered back into your society simply by claiming to be unwilling pawns. And you let them walk. Instead you condemned those that saved you. You took their lives and it is only fitting you give yours to return them."

If his bound audience could have screamed they would have. Instead silent fearful tears left their eyes and they waited for the man before them to deal out his justice. They could do nothing but watch as one by one Harry Potter called out the names of people who had betrayed him, scorned him, and simply disliked. One by one they all died in agony as their life was taken to grant someone else's theres. Even Dumbledore could do nothing as he lost his life so Neville Longbottom might live once more.

His allies stood dazed before him; some were still in a death-like-sleep while others were a bit more coherent and watched somewhat curiously as their comrades took shaky first breaths. All of them merely watched. They had all died never regretting the loyalty they had given to the man that had led them. They had died accepting the peace their leader offered them and sworn in their heart that even in the Kingdom of Death they would find their leader and follow him.

No one else in this war could claim loyalty like theirs to their leader. They had not followed him for power or for hidden promises. They hadn't even really meant to grant him their loyalty. Many had loved him first; others had trusted him when no one else could be granted the same privilege, while some had merely sought his counsel. A few had even been planted as spies within Harry's ranks. In the end all had seen something in this man that had given them the courage to fight besides him.

But not even they had known what power the man wielded.

Harry dispassionately called the whimpering wizards one by one and one by one his allies were revived. Even after all that had died that day lived once more he still called wizards to his side. Only this time the stolen life-energy did not enter a body but expanded to create the forms of those that had died by his side.

Dimly he heard the three redheaded Weasleys that had never left his side call out in joy as the forms of their family returned. Ron, killed by Voldemort early on; Percy, murdered when he rejected a Death Eater's offer; Bill, betrayed by his girlfriend; Charlie, killed in the final battle. Even Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stood on trembling limbs, both victims of an attack on the Burrow.

The first thing Ron did was crab him in one crushing hug. Harry studied his best-friend sadly. In one way Ron was lucky to have died early on so he did not have to witness the last part of the Golden Trio betray her friends not to Voldemort but to the Ministry and Dumbledore.

"Hermione?" was the first thing Ron asked. Harry remembered they had been boyfriend and girlfriend those last days of Ron's life.

"Her fate is pending." He pointed to where she stood frozen next to Cho Chang. "She betrayed me to them and she stood as your family and friends down here died."

Ron glanced at his one time girlfriend stricken. His face was pale and his eyes carried only disbelief. But there was no excuse as to why she stood healthy and whole on the stands while his former comrades leaned against each other nursing broken bones and bruises. Harry studied his best-friend carefully. Hermione's fate was in Ron's hands and even she knew that. Helplessly Ron glanced at his brother Bill and met sympathetic brown eyes.

Harry was Ron's brother and to betray one was to betray the other. Bill understood that sort of betrayal all too well for he remembered the last moments of his life as he was killed having discovered Fleur's true allegiance. And he could only feel satisfaction having spotted her lifeless body lying bonelessly next to wizards of her ilk that thought to escape justice.

"She is a betrayer." Ron whispered finally. Harry hugged his friend tightly and summoned Hermione. Helplessly she shook before them as if by merely crying she could plead her case.

"You remember what Sirius told Peter, don't you Hermione? Better to have died." Silently Harry stole the life of his one time best-friend whose testimony had been sited frequently in order to condemn her former friends. So her life was taken and from that another was born. Steadily Harry worked till all those that had claimed him breathed once more. They had all died at the hands of foes and friends alike and it was only fitting those that dared betray their memory pay the prize.

He spoke to the trembling crowd once more.

"You became betrayers and though I will not claim all your lives you still must pay. Your magic for your treachery. None here will ever raise a wand and none here may ever speak of magic again. I guard those that gave me their trust and loyalty. It is not wise to seek retribution on those that had the courage to stand besides me." He warned.

Still bound the crowd could only watch in horror as they lost the intangible connection that separated them from Muggles. Even squibs would have more magic than them now. Harry could only watch them in satisfaction.

"Can you bring back your parents?" whispered Ron near his ear. Harry glanced startled at his best-friend. He had thought the other had rejoined his family. Considering the question Harry could only shake his head sadly.

"Their time is past. I could only call those that gave their life to me. They bound themselves to me when they trusted me above all else. There is only so much the gods of Death can overlook."

"Gods?" Ron whispered as if the word was foreign to his mouth and perhaps it was. It was difficult to believe in God once you witnessed all the blood man spilled carelessly.

Harry smiled wryly.

"What did you think I was becoming?"

Ron could only stare at his friend in wonder.

"Their betrayal was the last thing needed. Rather Hermione's was all that was needed, a sister's betrayal. A Judas the more religious muggleborn would claim." Harry smiled sadly.

"What will happen now?"

Harry glanced at those that had put faith in him. Finally he turned back to his friend.

"You will recover and you will rebuild our society. Most of those that would stand in your way are nothing more than Muggles if not dead already. It is now your duty to forge the peace you fought for and I know you will honor the sacrifices we all made."

"What about you?"

This time Harry looked directly at his best-friends eyes.

"I may not be besides you but I will always look after you for as long as you call me."

For a moment best-friends stared at each other, both knowing this would be a parting of ways. Finally Ron gave a rueful smile.

"What other bloke can claim to be best-friends with a god?"

They laughed helplessly for a minute.

"Only you Ron. Only you.

**S**

**History remembers the days following the Judgment of Fools as the beginning of the Wizarding Golden Age. Minister Ronald Billus Weasley ushered in an age of magical tolerance never before seen as he rewrote the standards of a stagnant society. **

**The success Minister Weasley's term experienced sparked rumors that the very gods favored him. Honestly, they weren't that far off the mark when they made that claim.**

**As time passed names and events faded as they took their place next to great wars and greater men in the catacombs of history. But even to this day wizards and witches alike as well as the occasional Muggle swear by Altor Solis, the Sun Protector, whom some still fondly call by his birth name, Harry James Potter.**

**S**

**The End**

**AN: Just a story I thought about. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Review! I'm curious of about your opinion!**


End file.
